


I Just Came to Say Goodbye

by 2babyturtles



Series: Tumblr Fanfic Prompts [6]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Flowers for the dead, Gen, Goodbye, Grief, Mourning, Sadness, Wakes & Funerals, saying goodbye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 16:10:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12112374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2babyturtles/pseuds/2babyturtles
Summary: “I just came to say goodbye,” he responds dully, laying the flowers and keys on the table by his wife’s casket.





	I Just Came to Say Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Prompt #6: "I just came to say goodbye."
> 
> Find me here: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/2babyturtles-ao3

There’s something tragic in the Detective Inspector’s stern frown, as if he’s going into a battle he knows he’ll lose. His eyes are dark, clouded with the realization that his fears have all come true, and his shoulders are pulled inward under the crushing weight of his own bitterness. A bouquet of twelve red roses is clutched in his left hand, the scent clinging cloyingly to his jacket and burning his nose. In his right hand, he dangles a pair of house keys.

It’s evident from the shocked stares around him that he is not welcome here. He knew that before he came. If he’s honest with himself, it’s the last place he wants to be. But he couldn’t very well avoid the wake of the woman who was his wife once. He doesn’t plan on going to the funeral; that would be disrespectful to the people who come to remember her fondly. But he can’t pretend they shared nothing.

The flowers seem sticky in his hand and he realizes his palms are sweating. The casket is open and her face is painted with all the trappings she wore when she was alive. The cancer killed her fast, then, before it could spoil her appearance. He’s not sure whether he thinks that’s good or bad.

“Greg?” a familiar voice asks from behind him.

“I just came to say goodbye,” he responds dully, laying the flowers and keys on the table by his wife’s casket.

A woman approaches and runs a hand gently across his back. “We never hated you, Greg,” his former mother-in-law says gently.

He wants to soften under her touch, enjoying the presence of someone that had tried so hard to be a mother to him. But the bitterness and spite of so many years doesn’t disappear when the cause of it dies, and he shrugs away from her. “I just came to say goodbye,” he repeats, turning and leaving the house with its ghosts of memories. Tears sting his eyes and he stops on the sidewalk, almost to his car.

“Goodbye,” he whispers, as gently and as lovingly as he can manage.


End file.
